Chief Executive Blog - May 2015
Hello everyone,
The past month has seen the four most northerly authorities on the Scottish mainland break new ground by meeting at chief executive level to discuss issues of mutual interest.
I met with my counterparts from Highland, Aberdeenshire and Aberdeen City in Inverurie for what we intend will become regular exchanges on a wide range of topics.
Although we frequently hold sideline discussions when we attend COSLA, this was the first time that we have got together specifically to discuss matters which are relevant to all four councils and in which we all have an interest.
For example, among the issues we touched on at our inaugural meeting were teacher recruitment and how we might work together to promote the north of Scotland.
The meeting was extremely constructive and I am looking forward to hosting the next one in Elgin in June.
Along with the chief executives of the Shire and City, I have also been involved in the early stages of the process of recruiting a new chief executive for NHS Grampian. We were invited to take part in evaluating the presentations made by the shortlisted candidates ahead of the final interviews.
Meanwhile, the work of the council’s corporate management teams continues to be dominated by next year’s budget although for the past few weeks much of corporate services director Mark Palmer’s time has been taken up with arrangements for the General Election in his role as returning officer for Moray.
Over the past few weeks I have been involved in very useful meetings with both the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service and the Crown Estate, as well as attending a meeting, in my capacity as secretary of the Society of Local Authority Chief Executives, with Kenneth Hogg, deputy head of local government in the Scottish civil service.
The latest round of listening meetings – a series of informal round-the-table discussions with a representative cross-section of staff - has also got under way and will continue over the next month or so. On the subject of employee engagement, can I remind you all that the latest employee survey goes live in June and I would urge everyone to contribute to what is an extremely important exercise in garnering the views of staff.
Away from the office, I had the pleasure of being invited to Speyside for the visit of the Duke and Duchess of Rothesay to Walker’s at Aberlour and to the new Ballindalloch Distillery. Walker’s is an example of a long-established family business which continues to flourish, while the distillery is a fledgling addition to Moray’s thriving Scotch whisky industry.
Looking ahead, next week sees the arrival of a team from Audit Scotland for what will hopefully be their final follow-up Best Value audit visit. However, before then I have the small matter of a 10km run to negotiate at Forres on Saturday, along with a number of council colleagues.